Thursday, 26 January 2017

The HP Elite Slice: Have Your Cake and Eat It

It’s easy to feel a bit sorry for the state of the humble
desktop PC. Having been around for years, the reliable boxes have been getting
steadily eroded by the laptop and all-in-one market as technology has
progressed. That’s not to say that desktops have been getting left behind
entirely: indeed, the modern desktop of today is noticeably smaller than its
towering ancestors, and of course significantly more powerful. Still, in a
world where we’re seeing laptops with three screens built-in, it can feel like the
days of desktop innovation have all but vanished. That is, until you see HP’s
latest offering.

The Elite Slice is the
smallest desktop HP have ever released at just 6.5 x 1.38 x 6.5 inches, making
it more likely to be mistaken for a router than a premium business desktop —
but what really makes this little box stand out is the modular design, which
lets you customise the device to your individual requirements without the need
for wires, with each module connecting through a USB-like connection.

It’s worth pointing out that the device doesn’t just rest on
the intriguing modular concept to attract people, thanks to the technical specs
that do more than hold their own against the competition, with a 2.8 GHz i7 processor and 8 GB of RAM leading the
charge, and backed up by a 256 GB SSD. There’s also a version with slimmed down
specs, so you don’t have to be a power user to justify making the switch to the
Elite Slice.

Needless to say, there are various modules available for the
device, like a VESA plate for mounting the
device; an optical disk drive; and an audio module which comes with three Bang & Olufsen speakers and a
dual-microphone array, to make conference calls significantly clearer for both
parties. In fact, a whole article could easily be written on the conferencing
ability of the Elite Slice, and it’s all
down to another configuration option that’s available.

Enter the ‘HP Elite Slice for Meetings’, which includes the
aforementioned audio module as well as a ‘HP Collaboration Cover’, that’s
seemingly been created to dethrone phones from meeting rooms. It allows for
one-touch control of Skype for Business and
comes with an SSD by default, and the built in Wi-Fi (also in the non-meeting
version) means that you don’t have to be tied to an ethernet port.

In its standard vanilla mode, the Elite Slice is a powerful, space-saving
desktop PC that has a premium feel as a result of the minimalistic bronze and
black design as well as the formidable components. But of course, it’s the
modular nature of this beast that sets it aside from other desktop PCs, and if
nothing else it will be interesting to see how this market develops. After all,
the Elite Slice has the potential to shift
the trajectory of the desktop PC to renewed successes.